The dialysis process and procedure is performed by medical care providers in a hospital or other healthcare facility in which an individual to be treated undergoes a process for removing waste and excess water from the blood, and is primarily used to provide an artificial replacement for lost kidney function in individuals with renal failure. In almost all cases the medical care provider utilizes a dialysis machine in which the plumbing connection to the dialysis machine typically requires potable, untreated city tap water for supply to the dialysis machine and a waste drain for receiving waste from the dialysis machine as the individual undergoes treatment. As shown in FIG. 1, a prior art dialysis service system 10 for performing dialysis requires a single service box with a hose bib and drain connection 14 for supplying a water source and removing waste from the dialysis machine. In addition, the prior art hose bib and drain connection 14, in some jurisdictions, may requires a backflow preventer 18 for preventing retrograde flow of contaminated water and trap primer 16 for insuring periodic priming of the waste outlet to prevent the backflow of waste gases. As shown, the backflow preventer 18 and trap primer 16 are located at remote and separate locations relative to the hose bib and drain connection 14, therefore requiring extensive plumbing be installed to interconnect all of the components of the prior art dialysis service system 10.
With the thermostatic mixing valve at a separate remote location, numerous drawbacks exist in the current configuration of the prior art dialysis service system 10 which requires multiple dialysis services system locations. In particular, water brought to a predetermined temperature at a location remote from the dialysis box may result in a change in water temperature since the water being supplied to the dialysis box must travel a long distance between the remote thermostatic mixing valve to the dialysis box.
In addition, there is the inconvenience and cost in interior design and installation of the plumbing infrastructure that increases the expense to install separate thermostatic mixing component for mixing warm and cold water to maintain the water supplied to various dialysis boxes at a predetermined temperature. There is also an increased cost in maintenance and operation in that the existing designs require more wall space, material, labor, and time to install and operate the necessary additional plumbing 12 that must run between one or more remote thermostatic temperature mixers of the prior art dialysis system 10. Therefore, there is a need in the art for a dialysis service box that addresses these deficiencies in the prior art dialysis service system 10.